


The cutest kitty ever

by Arwen88



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Nick Fury loves cats, Protective Nick Fury, kitty!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 21:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17352758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen88/pseuds/Arwen88
Summary: A young Clint Barton ends up transformed into a cat by some criminal scientists. Nick Fury and the SHIELD get to the scene soon after and Nick finds the cutest cat ever all alone, so he obviously adopts him.





	The cutest kitty ever

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Maritombola of LDF, prompt 85 "Kitty!AU". Thanks to Acadiana for betareading this <3

"Hi there! Aren't you the cutest kitty ever?"  
Clint stopped in his tracks, lowering his ears as he turned and tried to understand what was happening. The last hour had been a rollercoaster for him: he went from archer out there to catch a bad guy to what looked to be a furry cat with too much orange fur and not enough actual human fingers. Not to mention that he had lost his bow. And now there was someone cooing at him with the kind tone of voice that someone would use with a baby.  
He tried to lower himself, getting closer to the ground as a tall black guy crouched down in front of him, his hands reaching out to pet his head and his cheeks. Suddenly Clint found himself react instinctively as a cat would, closing his eyes and purring as those gentle fingers scratched him while the man cooed more about how pretty he was.  
"Yes, I'm pretty, don't stop." He mewled, putting his paw over the man's hand to avoid him stopping the petting, his troubles forgotten for a quick moment.  
At least until someone called the man to his duties and the guy stood up whispering a quick "I'll be back" that had Clint mewling again. He followed the guy with his gaze for a couple seconds before he was suddenly reminded of how his problems had started and he jumped behind the guy, trotting in his steps as he tried to make him stop or turn around.  
Not even an hour before he had entered the building ready for whatever the criminals were going to throw at him and now those guys were about to probably end up as kittens too.  
The man noticed him pretty soon and suddenly Clint found himself scooped up in his arms, held tight to his chest as the man rubbed his nose in his fur while whispering to him to stay silent and calm.  
Clint perked up at hearing the steps of the henchmen of his own target and so he put his paw over Nick's lips to keep him quiet in return, giving him the chance to hear them too.

On one hand Clint was glad the guys had been taken into custody or killed, not to mention the fact that Nick - the softie who had decided he was the cutest little thing ever - had decided to adopt him. On the other hand there was the problem of him still being a cat, still being covered in fur, still not closer than he was two hours before to coming back to his human form. Surely things could have been worse: he could have been shot down, or he could have been left outside to freeze instead of having a soft couch to lie on while Nick went on and on about how he was happy to have a kitty and what he was going to make him for dinner.  
And then there were the scratches. It was like Nick knew exactly where to pet him to make him forget for a couple seconds who he was and suddenly Clint would find himself purring at the man, hoping he would not stop.  
He was trying to think of a plan to make the guy understand he was human, but he ended up falling asleep on Nick's lap while the man gently pet his head and back. Clint woke up in the middle of the night and stretched, yawning lazily before everything came back to him.  
Clint focused on his paws and after a moment he leaned in to lick them, trying to hope that all of that would go away as soon as possible, but he stopped licking only when something close to him moved and suddenly Clint found himself jumping on it, trying to grab it with his paws and attack it, before he even understood that it was Nick's foot under the covers. He kinda felt apologetic when Nick grunted in his sleep, but then he moved on instinct when Nick moved the other foot and Clint found himself throwing himself at it too.  
Nick had this good smell and warmth around him that pulled Clint closer to him like a moth to a flame. He moved slowly, trying not to wake the man up, and tried just putting one paw on his chest at first, until he was sure he was not too heavy, but then when the man didn't give any sign of waking up Clint walked over his chest to curl beside his neck, gently purring as he went back to sleep.

Clint woke up with the feeling of a gentle scratch over his cheek and without even wanting to he went straight back to purring at the man, turning his face only to lick at his chin.  
Nick laughed softly at that, still scratching him. "Who is the prettiest kitty?"  
Clint mewled, feeling more warm and fuzzy than he had probably ever felt in his whole life, not really wanting to lose that feeling when he turns back into a human again.

Somehow he managed to convince Nick to take him to work by the sheer power of his hopeful eyes, mewling as a desperate man - cat, and trying to get out of the house by getting between his feet when Nick opened the door.  
Apparently the man - as he told the only agent who dared ask about the kitty sitting in his director's lap in the SHIELD's HQ - had decided that Clint was his kitty and that was it.  
Clint surely wasn't going to complain, not with the chance to find out something about how he had turned into a cat as they listened to the confessions made by the bad guys Nick had arrested the day before, and surely not while Nick was petting and feeding him ever so often.  
He had been right to suspect that that would have been the perfect spot to find out fast what had happened to him, but he also regretted taking the decision to follow Nick to his office when they finally heard a scientist tell the agents about their experiment and the orange cat that had escaped just minutes before their intervention at the warehouse. Suddenly Nick stopped scratching his head and Clint took out his nails very slowly, pressing them into the fabric of Nick's pants to make sure the man wouldn't throw him away before he raised his gaze onto the face of the director to see his reaction.  
Nick was staring at him for the first time with a calculating gaze, trying to decide how many chances there were that Clint was in fact the cat the scientist had been talking about. Slowly, trying to dislodge Clint's nails, Nick tried to lift him.  
Clint mewled in protest, not very happy at the thought of Nick taking him to some lab to be experimented on once more. But Nick gently pet his head, seemingly understanding his distress.  
"Not going to leave you out there, kitty, but you know I have to be sure, right?" He told him as if he had been talking to a child, a moment before Nick squished him against his chest to be able to hold onto him as he carried the cat out of his office.  
Clint sighed, unhappy, but once more he pressed his nails into the fabric of Nick's outfit, hoping the man wouldn't arrest him as soon as he went back to his human form. He was impatient to be able once more to hold onto a spoon, but at the same time he wasn't too much in a hurry to lose the warmth and comfort of Nick's bed and food, or his caresses for that matter.

Clint had bit the scientist in the lab, scratching him deeply for minutes until Nick stepped in the room to help the poor agent keep Clint still to take a sample of his blood. The lab guy had already renamed Clint "the bloody menace", but he didn't dare call him so in front of his boss, not when Nick showed no problem whatsoever in cooing at Clint even in front of him.  
"Come on, lil’ kitty, let him do his job, then it will all be done and we'll go back to the office and I'll find some treats for you, huh?" He offered the cat, squishing him gently against the table, and Clint mewled pitifully, hoping to making him change his mind to no avail. In the end, Nick rubbed his back while the lab guy stepped back having done his job, Clint taking the chance to turn and bite his fingers too, scratching his sleeve with his hind paws.  
Nick did the most unexpected thing for Clint - even after hours of seeing Nick be the biggest softie around him - and the man pushed out his lip, pouting at him. Clint snorted softly and instead of continuing to bite him he changed tactics, licking where he had left a mark, just to see a smile spread on the lips of the man who had helped him so much.  
"Aren't you the cutest kitty I've ever seen?" Nick smiled, gently caressing him before lifting Clint in the air to put him back against his chest while he asked his agent how much time until he had the results. Clint kinda tuned him out, thinking about what would become of him when Nick finds out that he was, in fact, human. He couldn't see the man treating him as an animal anymore after that. He prayed Nick wouldn't arrest him as soon as he was to find out who Clint Barton was and how many criminals Hawkeye had wounded in the years.  
And how was he supposed to tell Nick, the director of SHIELD, the guy known as “the spy,” the same guy that had cleaned his litter just that morning, that he was maybe - just maybe - crushing on him and daydreaming of adopting seven cats and living together in his flat?

Clint raised his gaze and stopped grooming himself when he noticed that Nick had stopped reading a file to just stare at him. He mewled softly, perplexed, but he put the pieces together pretty soon when Nick moved his gaze once more from him to the file and then again on him, almost as if trying to make something out of what he was reading and at the same time about Clint.  
Clint sighed and moved over the desk to jump on his lap. He could feel Nick freeze at that, something that had never happened before, but Clint tried to not mind it too much while he sat on the man's knee to read the report himself.  
"It says you're human." Nick provided him, clearly not sure if he was still able to read it by himself.  
"Well, I am." Clint confirmed, even though he knew Nick would still hear it just as mewling.  
He turned to look at the man, trying to understand if he was ready to throw him down on the floor or if there was still a chance to get some cuddles before they would find a way to get him back to his human form.  
Nick was looking at him as perplexed as before, still much too rigid for Clint's taste.  
He blinked slowly and started purring, hoping that Nick would still think of him as "his cute kitty," and when he saw the man start to relax he added for good measure a roll on his back to expose his belly in a show of trust.  
Nick made a sound in the back of his throat and he reached out to gently scratch him, hoping Clint would like it, and Clint purred louder for him until Nick completely relaxed as if he had never found out the truth about his nature.  
"You're so cute, kitty..." The man sighed, smiling softly as he moved to scratch gently at his cheeks and Clint turned to lick his fingers.  
For once in his life Clint didn't want to change a thing, but obviously things were bound to change, if only because Nick was already ordering the lab to find a cure for his cat.  
Clint sighed and went back to licking the fingers still scratching his cheek. Nick moved his gaze on him and for a moment he pressed his lips together.  
"You probably shouldn't do that. You're human, right? Humans usually-"  
Clint snorted softly and bit his finger as a retaliation, but then blinked slowly and went back to lick the offended tip, purring loudly, and was rewarded with one of Nick's smiles as the man lifted him to put him against his shoulder once more.

Clint woke up in an infirmary bed, feeling groggy and tired, but suddenly able to feel his body as he hadn't been able to in the last few days, not to mention the sudden lack of feeling in his tail.  
He opened his eyes only to find Nick sitting beside the bed, a concerned and unsure look in his eye. Clint appreciated the concern - for once in his life it felt pretty great to see someone care for him - but didn't like too much to see Nick unsure. It wasn't an appropriate look on his face, not for his character.  
Nick noticed soon that he was awake and gave him a little nod, pressing his lips.  
Clint tried to crack a smile, hoping to put him at ease.  
"Who's the cutest kitty ever?" He croaked, and suddenly he could see a shocked look make his way on the man's features.  
It was undeniable now that not only Clint remembered everything, but that Nick had spent days cooing another man.  
"I'm-" Nick shook his head, embarrassed, but Clint moved his hand to cover Nick's and the man stopped in his tracks at the weak squeeze Clint had been able to do.  
"If I say you're the cutest cat in the room do I get to sleep on your chest some more?" He murmured with a little smile, hoping without hope that it could work.  
Nick was left speechless by the question, and for a moment he seemed to consider the chance that Clint was just joking, but Clint held his hand, not wanting to let go for all his money, and after a couple seconds Nick smiled softly.  
"We could arrange that..."


End file.
